O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;O say, does that star-spangled banner yet waveO’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen thro’ the mist of the deep,Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep.As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream’Tis the star-spangled banner. Oh! long may it waveO’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly sworeThat the havoc of war and the battle’s confusionA home and a country should leave us no more?Their blood has washed out their foul footstep’s pollution.No refuge could save the hireling and slaveFrom the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave,And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth waveO’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall standBetween their loved homes and the war’s desolation,Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued landPraise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation!Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,And this be our motto—“In God is our trust.”And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall waveO’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,the people he chose for his inheritance.From heaven the LORD looks downand sees all mankind;from his dwelling place he watchesall who live on earth — he who forms the hearts of all,who considers everything they do.No king is saved by the size of his army;no warrior escapes by his great strength.A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;despite all its great strength it cannot save.But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him,on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,to deliver them from deathand keep them alive in famine.NIV

The Star-Spangled Banner

“The Star-Spangled Banner” is the national anthem of the United States of America, with lyrics written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key. Key, a 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, wrote them as a poem after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland, by British ships in Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812.

Francis Scott Key was so inspired by the American victory and the sight of the large American flag flying triumphantly above the fort. This flag, with fifteen stars and fifteen stripes, came to be known as the Star Spangled Banner Flag and is today on display in the National Museum of American History, a treasure of the Smithsonian Institution. It was restored in 1914 by Amelia Fowler, and again in 1998 as part of an ongoing conservation program.

Set to the tune of “To Anacreon in Heaven,” a popular British drinking song, it became well-known as an American patriotic song. With a range of one and a half octaves, it is known for being notoriously difficult to sing. It was recognized for official use by the United States Navy (1889) and the White House (1916), and was made the national anthem by a Congressional resolution on 3 March 1931. Although the song has four stanzas, only the first is commonly sung today.

An artist's rendering of thebattle at Fort McHenry.The caption reads;"A VIEW of the BOMBARDMENT ofFort McHenry, near Baltimore, by the British fleet taken from the Observatory under the Command of Admirals Cochrane & Cockburn on the morning of the 13th of Sept 1814 which lasted 24 hours & thrown from 1500 to 1800 shells in the Night attempted to land by forcing a passage up the ferry branch but were repulsed with great loss."